BOWLING GREEN 83, CENTRAL MICHIGAN 61
AKRON 73, MIAMI 68
BUFFALO 91, BALL STATE 65
OHIO 88, WESTERN MICHIGAN 76
NORTHERN ILLINOIS 86, KENT STATE 76
TOLEDO, Ohio – Senior JT Shumate scored 20 points to lead five Rockets in double figures and help Toledo rally for an 84-79 victory over Eastern Michigan on Tuesday night in Savage Arena.
The victory gave UT a season-high four-game winning streak and moved the Rockets (14-6, 5-2 MAC) to a game behind Kent State (16-3, 6-1 MAC) and Akron (14-6, 6-1 MAC) in the league standings. Eastern Michigan fell to 1-6 in MAC play, 4-16 overall.
"I never once thought we were going to lose this game," Head Coach Tod Kowalczyk said about his team, which trailed by 11 points with under seven minutes to play. "I can't say that about every game. We had the right guys playing hard and staying positive. I really liked how our guys were talking during our timeouts and they stayed together."
Joining Shumate in double digits for Toledo were sophomore Dante Maddox Jr. (19 pts.), junior RayJ Dennis (17 pts.), senior Setric Millner Jr. (16 pts.) and sophomore Ra'Heim Moss (10 pts.).
In addition to make all nine of his free-throw attempts, Shumate grabbed a team-high nine rebounds with Moss and Millner Jr. collecting eight and seven boards, respectively.
Toledo shot 42.6 percent from the field, 42.9 percent (12-of-28) from three-point range and 80.0 percent (20-of-25) from the free-throw line. UT also tied its season low with four turnovers.
Toledo survived a shooting barrage from sophomore Emoni Bates, who topped Eastern Michigan (4-16, 1-6 MAC) with a career-high 43 points, the most points ever scored against the Rockets in Savage Arena. Miami's Ron Harper scored 45 points vs. Ball State in the 1985 Mid-American Conference for the most points ever scored in a game in the facility.
"Emoni hit a lot of unbelievable, tough contested shots and you have to give him a lot of credit," Kowalczyk said.
HOW IT HAPPENED
~~ Bates scored EMU's final 29 points of the half by connecting on 10-of-14 from the floor and 7-of-9 from three-point range. Toledo took a 36-35 lead to intermission.
~~ EMU connected on 10 of its first 11 shots to start the half, giving the Eagles a 57-47 advantage with 12:08 to play. Noah Farrakhan had 10 (5-of-5 from the field) of Eastern's 22 points in the run.
~~ Toledo cut the lead to 57-54 with 10:45 left with a 7-0 spurt.
~~ EMU countered with a 10-2 run to take its largest lead of the night, 67-56, with 6:51 to play.
~~ Toledo countered with a 15-2 burst that was capped off by a four-point play from Dante Maddox Jr. with 4:04 left to give the Rockets a 71-69 lead.
~~ JT Shumate knocked down 7-of-7 shots from the free-throw line over the next two minutes to extend Toledo's lead to 80-77 with 50 seconds left.
~~ After Bates hit a pair of free throws to cut the lead to 80-79, Maddox responded with a pair of his own with 24 seconds left to put the lead back to 82-79.
~~ After Bates missed a contested three-pointer, Dennis sealed the victory for the Rockets with two more free throws.
MOUNT PLEASANT, Mich. - Bowling Green State picked up its second consecutive win Tuesday night, defeating the Central Michigan Chippewas 83-61 in Mount Pleasant.
The Falcons took an early lead, creating a 29-point advantage by the halftime break. The Orange and Brown maintained their lead through the second half, capturing the final. The win moves the Falcons to 4-3 within MAC play and 10-10- on the season.
Leon Ayers III led the Falcons on the stat sheet with his fourth straight 20-point game, finishing with 24, including 19 in the first half alone. Samari Curtis added 19 off the bench, including 14 from the free throw line. Chandler Turner flirted with a double-double as well for BGSU, finishing with nine points and seven rebounds.
Jesse Zarzuela came off the bench to lead CMU with 24 points. No other Chippewas player had more than eight points.
AKRON, OH -- They brought very different records into Tuesday's MAC matchup, but it ultimately took Akron all 20 minutes to hold off visiting Miami 73-68.
It was the first MAC coaching battle between Akron's John Groce and his brother Travis Steele, who took over the RedHawks program this year. With its fourth straight loss, MU fell to 1-6 in conference play (7-13 overall). The Zips remained undefeated at home and raised their record to 6-1 MAC (14-6 overall).
Akron senior guard Xavier Castaneda, the league's top scorer, topped his 19.9 ppg average with a 32-point night against Miami. He connected on 8-of-16 from the field overall and 10-of-11 free throws. Some of his biggest baskets came on shots from long distance, including a triple to put UA up 69-64 with 53 seconds left.
Miami scored four straight points to . . . CONTINUE
MUNCIE, Ind. – The Buffalo Bulls (10-10, 4-3 MAC) dominated the Ball State Cardinals (13-7, 4-3 MAC) on Tuesday evening, 91-65.
Curtis Jones led the team with 27 points. Another 20-point scorer was Armoni Foster finishing with 20 and seven assists. The 20 points set a career-high for Foster. Isaiah Adams (12) and Zid Powell (11) also finished in double figures. The Bulls led wire to wire holding the lead for 39:36.
Buffalo continued their win streak against the Cardinals to make it six in a row. This is Buffalo's largest margin of victory at Ball State since Feb. 3, 2017, in a 96-69 decision.
Foster was perfect on the night. He was 8-for-8 from the floor, 1-for-1 from three, and 3-for-3 from the line. He is the only player in the nation to make all eight shots and have at least seven assists in a game this season. Foster has had five or more assists in seven of the last eight games including three straight games with seven assists.
The Bulls were hot out of the gate to start the game. Of Ball State's first seven possessions of the game, they turned the ball over five times. Four of which were steals courtesy of C. Jones, Adams, and Powell. The Bulls were lights out in the first half of action. Shooting at a rate of 52.8% (19-of-36) from the floor and 53.8% (7-of-13) from three-point range gave Buffalo a major advantage as the Cardinals were 11-for-30 (36.7%) in the half.
The Bulls' 18-point halftime lead was Ball State's largest halftime deficit of the season. The Cardinals' 27 points at halftime were their third lowest of the season.
Like Buffalo in the first half, Ball State was lights out to start the second half. The Cardinals started 6-for-6 from the floor while outscoring the Bulls 16-9. Ball State cut Buffalo's lead to nine at the 14:08 mark of the second half. After cutting the lead to nine, a Powell and-one hushed the crowd to make it a 59-47 lead. Ball State had no answers for the Bulls. A Powell alleyoop from Adams put a dagger in any hope that was left for Ball State. Buffalo shot even better in the second half going 18-for-26 (69.2%) and 4-for-9 (44.4%) from three.
Doing the dirty work at the glass was LaQuill Hardnett, Jonnivius Smith, Powell, and Blocker. Hardnett had a game-high eight boards with Smith finishing with seven, and both Powell and Blocker finishing with five each.
The win marked Buffalo's first true road win of the season and handed the Cardinals their first home loss this year.
ATHENS, Ohio – Dwight Wilson III scored a career-high 31 points to lead Ohio (11-9, 3-4 MAC) past Western Michigan (6-13, 2-4 MAC) Tuesday at the Convocation Center.
Wilson secured his new career high of 31 points going 13-of-16 from the field and 5-of-7 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 11 rebounds; five offensive and six defensive. Freshman guard AJ Brown, was another key player for the Bobcats securing 16 points. Brown went 6-of-10 from the field, 1-of-3 from the three, and 3-of-4 from the free throw line.
Overall, Ohio shot 50 percent from the field, went 9-of-26 from three and was 13-of-18 from the line, while WMU shot 46 percent from the field, 29 percent from three and was 17-of-27 from the line. Ohio out-rebounded WMU 41-33, had 12 assists to their 10, and forced eight Bronco turnovers.
Lamar Norman Jr. led with 20 points, followed by Wright with 16 points and 5 rebounds. Tray Maddox Jr. added 10 points to the Western Michigan cause.
Ohio, which held a 39-35 halftime edge, shot 44 percent from the field, 40 percent from the three point line and were 1-of-4 from the line, while WMU shot 52 percent from the field, 41 percent from three and were 6-of-11 from the line.
The second half opened up with a dunk from Western Michigan's Titus Wright to get the Broncos within one possession of the Bobcats, but it was Roderick with another three point response to get Ohio ahead once more at 42-37. Western Michigan quickly increased offensive pressure scoring six in a row, before Clayton sank back to back three point jumpers with 13 minutes left to play.
The Bobcats held their lead over Western Michigan for the rest of the second half, with a driving layup from Hunter, and a dunk from Wilson III. The Bobcats continued to pull ahead with a 12 point lead going into a media timeout with two minutes left in the game. The lead extended to 16 points after a dunk from Brown, assisted by Hunter.
DEKALB, Ill. -- A complete team effort that included five double-figure scorers helped Northern Illinois end the third-longest win streak in the nation on Tuesday night as the Huskies downed Kent State, 86-76, at the NIU Convocation Center.
David Coit scored a career-high 32 points, including 11-of-11 from the free-throw line, Darweshi Hunter added 14 points, Kaleb Thornton netted 13 points and 11 assists, Harvin Ibarguen chipped in 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds while Zarique Nutter scored 11 points.
"Tonight, was a program victory," said NIU head coach Rashon Burno. "I'm proud of our guys, coming off a two good wins on the road, we got to what we have believe all season, going all the way back to Canada (in August), we knew we had a good team. We've been unfortunate with injuries, sickness, all the things that happen in a college season seemed to happen to us at a time when we needed the practices and to be together, so it took us some time.
"I'm excited for our guys, they needed it, we needed it as a program to continue moving this thing in the right direction. I thought my guys showed a lot of toughness, we understood that this was one of the top mid-major teams in college basketball."
Four-straight points from Kent State put the flashes in front by one, 70-69, with 3:37 to play before the Huskies scored five-straight on an alley-oop from Thornton to Ibarguen and a triple from Coit off a feed from Thornton.
Thornton's 13 points and 11 assists marked NIU's first points-assists double-double since Jan. 13, 2010, when Mike DiNunno had 21 points and 10 assists against Western Michigan.
After a basket by the Golden Flashes trimmed the NIU lead to a pair, Thornton drove to the basket, finished through contact and converted the free throw to put the Huskies in front, 77-72, with 1:52 left.
Kent State scored to cut the lead to three, but Nutter answered for NIU, sparking a 5-0 burst with a free throw from Ibarguen and another layup from Thornton, giving the Huskies an 82-74 advantage with 42 seconds to play, putting the game out of reach.
NIU shot 51.9 percent (28-of-54) from the field, including 46.4 percent (13-of-28) from three, as it picked up its third consecutive victory, and fourth in the last five games. The Huskies outscored the Golden Flashes off turnovers, 21-3, despite committing one more turnover than Kent State (13-12).
Kent State shot 52.8 percent (28-of-53) in the contest, including 40 percent (8-of-20) from three.
Sullinger came off the bench to score a team-high 17 points for Kent State. Sincere Carry added 16 points, Miryne Thomas scored 14, Malique Jacobs chipped in 11 and Chris Payton scored 10 points.